I'm 16 years old as of now, about to be 17 in two months. Ive always been a car enthusiast my whole life from just being amazed by supercars when I was younger, and I still am now. I'm friends with a neighbor of mine that owns an E92 M3 that I've driven before, and I would consider it one of my dream cars. I'm pretty obsessed with M3s and BMWs period, haha. My question to all of you out there, is where will the E90 and E92 M3s stand in a out 5-10 years? Will they all be sold to owners who will never sell them? Or will they just end up being a collectors item and cost ungodly amounts of money to purchase? I'd just love to own an M3 one day with a naturally aspirated V8.

Agreed, very well under $30k - figure more like the 20's. The biggest things you'll have to contend with, however, is the fact that these are complicated machines. Unlike an e30 M3 which can be taken apart and put back together with basic mechanical skills (one very small and dumb ECU is it for electronics) the e9x platform is riddled with electronics. That factor, crossed with age will mean that maintenance costs are likely to be pretty steep. Conversely, the gas chugging aspect of this car, coupled with the likely pricing in 5 years should also mean you'll get a hell of a deal.

I say, keep reading on the subject so you can be an expert on it and it will make your ownership easy.

you can answer it yourself by looking for 2001-2006 E46 M3's for sale on autotrader.com and cars.com, dime a dozen, and I don't expect any different. Two generations removed and most cars would have been scrapped.

this is a standard issue sports car, not an allmightyomfgbbqwtfpwndiowntheworldthebestcarinthe worldsuperman car.

If you do get this car, you need to start worrying about maintenance cost. Can you afford the cost of tires, diff and transmission fluid changes, spark plug changes, etc?

It depends on how much the E9X M3 fulfills your dream, the next M3 and the one after that will always make you lust for it or it would be bad for BMW. It's their job to make you want their new cars! When the new ones come out do a self-check to see how much you still want the E9X, it will definitely be affordable to buy in a 4 years with a lot people dumping these out of warranty.

5-10 yrs, probably significantly lower as mentioned above. Over time, may be a different story for lower mileage ones as was last of bespoke N/A engines and production runs particularly on the E90 were really low (approx ~9k for the total run). Can point to last of air-cooled porsche's or 86-87 buick grand nationals/GNXs as far as "end of an era" and production numbers comps; those cars essentially held their value in nominal (but not inflation adjusted) dollars.

okcomputer, peeti, Vic311, vismin_m3, and mdosu - Thanks for the good advice. Most definitely going to look into everything. Gotta keep maintenance in mind. I'm sure any M3 I would buy would need a good bit of it.
Uiop - LOL, sure.
Mr Gunfun - Haha, I'm not a troll. Just a curious 16 year old that wants to go very fast.

okcomputer, peeti, Vic311, vismin_m3, and mdosu - Thanks for the good advice. Most definitely going to look into everything. Gotta keep maintenance in mind. I'm sure any M3 I would buy would need a good bit of it.
Uiop - LOL, sure.
Mr Gunfun - Haha, I'm not a troll. Just a curious 16 year old that wants to go very fast.

Study hard, put in hard work. Make better decisions when your friends are going out and drinking and living paycheck to paycheck.

I'm 24, living the dream with an E90. (It isn't paid in full - but just saying - it's do-able)

Figure a nice example with good service history will never cost less than about $15k, probably in 2020 or so, after that the nice ones will become more and more rare and start to be worth more and more money (though certainly not ever "barret jackson record-setter" money). Anything less than that and you're probably looking at extremely high mileage or needing lots of work or both, not that high mileage necessarily means bad car. We're already seeing this with the E46, go find a truly "mint" condition E46 for less than $25k, I bet you can't (I couldn't, I looked)

But like the E36 and soon the E46, you will probably be able to find a much-less-than-perfect but still very usable car for less than 10k. Unlike the E36, it won't be cheap to fix, which means the price spread between a good example and a less-than-perfect example will probably be pretty big

For me, I knew the E90 would be the one that hit my sweet spot for a "perfect" car, so I pulled the trigger three years ago and I'll never sell it. For you, I'd wait and see what comes along in the next 10 years. The next two M3 generations are probably going to be pretty damned cool...

Figure a nice example with good service history will never cost less than about $15k, probably in 2020 or so, after that the nice ones will become more and more rare and start to be worth more and more money (though certainly not ever "barret jackson record-setter" money). Anything less than that and you're probably looking at extremely high mileage or needing lots of work or both, not that high mileage necessarily means bad car

But like the E36 and soon the E46, you will probably be able to find a much-less-than-perfect but still very usable car for less than 10k. Unlike the E36, it won't be cheap to fix, which means the price spread between a good example and a less-than-perfect example will probably be pretty big

For me, I knew the E90 would be the one that hit my sweet spot for a "perfect" car. For you, I'd wait and see what comes along in the next 10 years. The next two M3 generations are probably going to be pretty damned cool...

Definitely something to keep in mind. Just seems like nothing can get any better than a naturally aspirated V8. But with the multi-turbo engine that will be in the next M3, it could be better than the E92. Who knows..

Figure a nice example with good service history will never cost less than about $15k, probably in 2020 or so, after that the nice ones will become more and more rare and start to be worth more and more money (though certainly not ever "barret jackson record-setter" money). Anything less than that and you're probably looking at extremely high mileage or needing lots of work or both, not that high mileage necessarily means bad car

But like the E36 and soon the E46, you will probably be able to find a much-less-than-perfect but still very usable car for less than 10k. Unlike the E36, it won't be cheap to fix, which means the price spread between a good example and a less-than-perfect example will probably be pretty big

For me, I knew the E90 would be the one that hit my sweet spot for a "perfect" car. For you, I'd wait and see what comes along in the next 10 years. The next two M3 generations are probably going to be pretty damned cool...

yeah, good point, 10 years will span the next 2 upcoming M3 generations. The E9X would be what the E36 is now to us. Teh E9X would be very dated, and the fix-it cost will be a nightmare, since there's so much more electronics controlled functions in our car.

I remember when I was 17, I wanted a MKIV Supra or FD RX-7 really badly. When I bought my first car at 24, I wasn't getting anywhere close to that maintenance nightmare of a RX7 or paying $30k for a unmolested Supra 3000 miles away sigh unseen. For the same performance stock for stock, I got an Evo 8 instead. Your perspective of cars (and the cars themselves) will change ALOT between age of 16 and 26, believe me.

okcomputer, peeti, Vic311, vismin_m3, and mdosu - Thanks for the good advice. Most definitely going to look into everything. Gotta keep maintenance in mind. I'm sure any M3 I would buy would need a good bit of it.
Uiop - LOL, sure.
Mr Gunfun - Haha, I'm not a troll. Just a curious 16 year old that wants to go very fast.

Good stuff..excuse the forum's sensitivity..we have been getting bombarded lately..

Study hard, put in hard work. Make better decisions when your friends are going out and drinking and living paycheck to paycheck.

I'm 24, living the dream with an E90. (It isn't paid in full - but just saying - it's do-able)

You, sir, are very smart. M3s, Porsche 911s, Audi RSR4s and so on are for folks with disposable income. Get an education, a job, a house and a family (family is optional... there are pros and cons) then consider toys. I drove Toyotas into the 200,000 mile range, paid my bills, got four kids through college then in 2001 got my first Porsche (at 47 years old). No regrets.

Now, I am prowling the M3 forums. I just need a little bump to do another ED to pick up a new M3. Someone... give me a little shove.

Oh yeah... my must have car was a 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 396. It is great to dream and reach in your youth.